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tv   Starting Point  CNN  November 20, 2012 4:00am-6:00am PST

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>> a big admission from the intelligence community over that famous now benghazi memo. who they say made the changes, that caused this whole firestorm. >> plus talk about this morning it's tuesday november 20th and "starting point" begins right now. good morning, welcome everybody. breaking news. this morning israel is agreeing to hold off on a ground offensive in to gaza. secretary of state hillary clinton heading into the region at this hour. she's going to be meting with leaders in israel, in egypt, in ramallah, that's going to start tomorrow. the israelis carrying out more than 80 air strikes overnight. 95 rockets back across the border. 38 palestinians killed in the last 24 hours. cnn has the conflict covered from all sides. christiane amanpour is live in jerusalem, arwa damon is on the
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ground in gaza city, richard plight again is in ashkelon in israel, jessica yellin is live in cambodia where secretary clinton has departed heading for the middle east. we begin with christiane. welcome. give us a sense of this new announcement from israel. how long do you think israel is waiting to silt on this halt before it would move forward with sending ground troops in? >> well, what was reported was that a senior government official in the loop close to the talks has confirmed to me this morning that after the latest intense round of conversations and meetings between prime minister netanyahu and his inner security cabinet, which went on into the early morning hours here jerusalem time, there has been a decision taken to hold on the ground offensive. to give time, he says, limited time to make the diplomatic solution work. that is their preferred option. however, he also adds that
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israeli military is prepared and continues to make its preparations in case, if and when, a decision is taken to escalate to a ground war. in that case the military would be prepared to react immediately. but clearly what we're hearing and what we've been reporting over the last 24 to 36 hours is that despite the fact that the air strikes continue and hamas rockets continue, the push on the ground is for a diplomatic solution. and today, a huge number of important diplomats are coming to israel and to 9 region, not just the u.n. secretary-general, but the u.s. secretary of state as you've just said has been dispatched by president obama to meet face-to-face with the principles in this conflict. the prime minister of israel, the president of egypt who is taking the lead in organizing these cease-fire negotiations from the hamas side with israel. soledad? >> christiane, that sounds like the short-term option, right? you sort of try to hold everything down while you negotiate some kind of a
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short-term peace. what are people saying about the longer-term options here? >> well, you know, there's a lot of devil in the details, as always. you know, each side wants to make sure it's not just a short-term. it's a long-term option. because on the one hand, israel wants a long-term solution to the rockets that are being fired into israel, and into threatening the residents of that area of southern israel close to gaza. on the other hand, the hamas and the palestinians in gaza want a long-term solution to lifting the siege of gaza, and also want a promise, a pledge from israel not to target and not to assassinate their top leaders. so, all sides actually want a long-term solution, and that is where, you know, i think the parameters of this are being negotiated. just what can they achieve now, and what would they be willing to achieve and how would they work toward achieving something more permanent in the long-term? of course, all of that really for a long, long-term is
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something that would really be cemented in stone, you need a proper peace process, and that is still a long way off. >> christiane amanpour for us. as world leaders are trying to broker that cease-fire, it's been another night of bloodshed and bombings in gaza. arwa damon is live from gaza city this morning with the very latest there. what are you seeing? >> well, we're hearing a drone buzzing overhead as we do most of the time here. and then just a short while ago there was an explosion over in that direction, palestinian sources initially telling us that it seems like the israelis were targeting what's described as being the house of a commander or an official of hamas. we also just heard an explosion to the west in that direction, sort of around the corner from where we are, and right now, another explosion in the distance, as well. so most certainly the strikes here are continuing. we are also continuing, and we did overnight see rockets being fired from here towards israel, and the streets below just as
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deserted as they have been since this offensive, this most recent round of clashes, conflicts, really began. people staying well indoors. a lot of trepidation here. a lot of anxiety. people really fearful of that ground offensive. but also just as fearful because of these ongoing strikes. people saying that this time around, this most certainly is not the first time that these two sides have reached this sort of a situation. but they say that this time around it's different in the sense that the strikes seem to really be hitting every single neighborhood. a lot of people here staying well indoors. >> arwa damon for us this morning. thank you, arwa for the update. the air raid sirens keep sounding in southern israel sending citizens scrambling for cover there. hamas fighters launching dozens more rockets across the border overnight. three israelis have been killed since the violence began last week. frederick pleitgen reports from ashkelon, israel this morning. >> hi, there. yes rocket barrages certainly
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continue in ashkelon, as well. there were several rockets fired in the early morning hours and also the town of behr sheb ba. 13 were intercepted by the iron dome missile defense system which is something we've been talking about a lot in the past couple of days. also one israeli reserve officer was wounded in the nagev desert when a rocket hit there. by and large, however, the israeli defense forces are saying that this morning they are seeing a significant decrease in the amount of rocket attacks from gaza. one of the other interesting things that we've been talking about and that's happening is that in the past 1 1/2 days or so, there have been no long-range rocket attacks coming out of gaza. of course, if you recall back to sunday, the militants there were targeting towns like tel aviv, which are very far away from the border with gaza. jerusalem was targeted, as well. we haven't seen that in the past day and a half and that can mean two things. either they don't have those rockets anymore. or israel had taken all of them out by now.
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>> thank you for the update. appreciate it. the israeli president shimon peres says his chief concern right now is stopping the iranians from sending long range missiles to hamas. he said he sees two story lines playing out. one, very positive. and one that is terribly negative. listen. >> the positive is the war that egyptian president is playing right now and we appreciate very much his efforts. the unpleasant one is the iranians they are trying again to encourage hamas to continue the shooting, the bombing of trying to end imams out of their mind. >> calls iran the world's problem, not just because this nuclear ambitions but also his role as a quote center of world terror. that's a look at the updates from the middle east. let's get right to john berman with some other stories.
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good morning. >> we're following more breaking news out of the conflict zone. an attack at the u.s. embassy in tel aviv. details still coming in but here's what we know. an israeli police spokesman says a security guard at the embassy was stabbed with an ax or pitchfork. the attacker reportedly also had a knife on him at the time. a witness told reuters the attacker ran towards the guards and ignored their calls to get on the ground. guards jumped the man and then took him down. now another big story the latest on the investigation into bengha benghazi. the spokesman for the director of national intelligence says the intelligence community not the white house, state department or justice department made changes to talking points given to government officials. the obama administration, especially ambassador to the united nations susan rice, has taken a lot of heat over those talking points. rice used them as the basis for saying five days afterwards that the attacks were a spontaneous reaction to an anti-islamic video. four men from southern california are charged in an alleged terror plot to kill americans and destroy u.s.
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targets overseas. they were arrested after the fbi uncovered their plans to engage in, quote, violent jihad. authorities say the four plan to join and train with al qaeda and the taliban in afghanistan. indiana police now believe an explosion that leveled several homes was no accident. they've opened up a homicide investigation. two people were killed and seven others injured in the november 10th explosion at the richmond hills subdivision. texts are now searching for a white van that was spotted in the neighborhood shortly before the blast. republican congressman allen west has conceded defeat to democratic challenger patrick murphy. that's in the race for florida's 18th congressional district. west who is a tea party favorite released a statement this morning saying quote, while any questions remain unanswered today i am announcing that i will take no further action to contest the outcome of this election. final results of a recount sunday put murphy ahead of west by over 1900 votes. the latest now in the
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petraeus sex scandal. we'll be hearing from tampa socialite jill kelley's twin sister natalie today. she'll be joined by attorney gloria allred. meant to clear up possible misconceptions and explain her relationship with petraeus and his wife, his wife holly. former cia director david petraeus and general john allen each wrote glowing letters to help her during child custody hearings. jill kelley's e-mails exposed petraeus' affair with his biographer paula broadwell. complicated web we weave. >> we're on the verge of jumping the shark on this. >> gloria allred is in town. >> can't wait for that press conference certainly. business, christine? >> a recent survey showed that more people are following the fiscal cliff than they are the petraeus scandal. so maybe there's some reality in the world. stock futures flat this morning guys. yesterday's optimism giving way to revived concerns this morning about europe. moody's downgraded france's
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credit rating late last night, and europe's finance ministers are meeting in brussels today to talk about greece. yesterday the dow jumped 207 points. that's more than 1.5%. that was the biggest day for stocks in months. strength in real estate adding to yesterday's good mood. existing home sales rose more than 2% in october and home prices are up more than 11% from a year ago. that's right. according to the national association of realtors the median price of an existing home $178,600. home prices have risen for eight consecutive months now. an eleventh hour twist in the hostess liquidation drama. a judge pushing hostess and its striking union into a mediation session today to possibly avoid liquidating the company and cutting more than 18,000 jobs. if today's session is not successful, hostess goes back to court tomorrow. investors who own this company want to close the factories, they want to sell the brand, they want to liquidate the whole thing. brands like ho hoes, ding dongs, twinkies, they may be iconic.
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the company says they're not making any money. >> how can they not make money? >> because you've got a striking bakers union, and idle factories. some of these factories, the technology is pretty old. when was the last time you bought a hostess ho-ho or a twinkie? >> like recently. >> i love twinkies but i can't remember the last time i went in a store and bought one. >> i think they're iconic and i think the pr value you could really, you know, what other brand has a name that everyone is talking about. >> another company or another investor comes in and buys the brand and doesn't have the labor issue to go with it. >> well, resolve the labor issues. obviously people need jobs, they want to work -- viable company. >> exactly. >> right here. >> hire soledad o'brien. >> and i eat tweng kis. >> last time i ate a twinkie was at a state fair. you eat the fried twinkie. >> ahead on "starting point" this morning, and that ends that conversation. doesn't it? let's talk about israel a little bit more putting a ground invasion of gaza on hold. is that going to last?
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and for how long? we're going to talk to prime minister benjamin netanyahu coming up. americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want.
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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." america's top diplomat, secretary of state hillary clinton, is headed to the middle east in an effort to end the bloody israel/hamas conflict. she's going to be talking to israeli, palestinian and egyptian officials with the message that it's in no one's interest to have this conflict escalate. cnn's chief white house correspondent jessica yellin is in phnom penh cambodia this morning where the secretary is just leaving. good morning. >> hi, good morning, soledad. secretary of state clinton has actually left here, is headed now to israel to meet with her first stop there will be to meet with prime minister benjamin netanyahu. on a trip that came about rather suddenly the way white house officials explained to us. president obama came on this trip with the express purpose of
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focusing on the pacific. he meant it to be his primary objective right after the election. but throughout the trip he has been briefed by secretary clinton and his chief national security adviser on developments in the middle east. the two of them were on the phone constantly with their counterparts in the middle east, and we're told that yesterday, the president, after his summit meetings here in cambodia, spent a very late night on the phone with president mursi of egypt, and with prime minister netanyahu, doing some shuttle diplomacy of his own until 2:30 in the morning cambodia time, and then woke up this morning. sat down with secretary clinton and the two of them then decided the best way for them to try to push forward toward a truce, toward some kind of temporary cease-fire that would allow them to get to a place where they could work out a longer-term agreement would be to send secretary clinton there in person, and that's what they
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agreed to do. one of the president's officials said that still the onus is on hamas, and put it this way, this is what he had to say earlier today, soledad. >> the bottom line still remains that hamas has to stop this rocket fire. so ultimately, they're the ones who are going to have to be a part of a solution that ends the type of terror that israeli citizens faced over so many months with this barrage of rockets coming into israeli territory. >> for secretary clinton who has said that she is leaving at the end of the first term, obviously, being able to get some sort of temporary cease-fire deal would be a nice way to wrap up her tenure as secretary of state, soledad. >> and good for everybody else around the world, as well. jessica yellin, appreciate that. let's bring in from jerusalem, spokesperson for the israeli government and for prime minister benjamin netanyahu. we were hearing air raid sirens that were going off right behind you just a few moments ago. can you tell me about that?
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>> i am stuck in the chair here in your studio so i haven't got more information to share with you except to say that the sirens have stopped and it appears live's gone back to normal. but the mere thakt that hamas shoots a rocket at jerusalem it says more about them than it does about anything else. shoot a rocket at this city, a city that's got jewish neighborhoods, that's got arab neighborhoods, that's got holy sites on all three banks, what does that say about them? they could just as easily hit anyone, anything. it really shows they have no sense of common decency of human values. >> and i have to note that wolf blitzer just tweeted that hamas rockets just fell in beer sheba and there are casualties. that is where he is reporting from. you heard jessica yellin reporting just a moment ago, she was obviously on the whole ground offensive, we know secretary clinton is now en route to deal with egyptian officials and israeli officials and palestinian officials. how long are you willing to put
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this hold on any kind of buildup toward a ground war, is it 24 hours? is it days? is it weeks? >> we would like to see a diplomatic solution, if that's possible. if it's possible to get the end of these incoming rockets on our people, if it's possible to do that peacefully, we're all in favor. we prefer a diplomatic solution. tonight my prime minister will be meeting both with the secretary of state he she arrives, and of course before that he has a meeting with the secretary-general of the united nations ban ki-moon. the bottom line for us is, we want peace and quiet. we want an end to these rockets that have been raining down on israel from gaza. it has to stop. no one, no government on this planet, would sit by idly and see its civilian population targeted the way the israeli civilian population has been targeted. it has to end. it has to finish. >> you know a minute ago we played some sound from shimon peres who sort of talked about two paths. he gave egypt credit for helping
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to broker some peace, i think, is too strong to say, but be in negotiations and then he said the iranians are the problem, they've been sending arms, et cetera. give me a sense of what you think about what egypt has been doing so for, and in their, their leadership on this front. >> well, the president is exactly right. first point obviously the egyptians have a pivotal role to try to help us get out of this, to try to find a situation where we can have peace and quiet for our citizens, that they don't have to live in fear of an incoming rocket launch from gaza, and he's right about iran, too. you know those rockets that are fired as israeli civilians, it has to be stressed they're not firing rockets at military targets. they're firing rockets indiscriminately at israeli cities as we just saw here in jerusalem. they're trying to kill just normal people going to work, going to school, they don't care about that. and the truth is on those rockets that are fired at israel there are three words, made in iran. there's no doubt about that.
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we know that hamas hasn't got the ability to make these sort of ground-to-ground, very military-style rockets by themselves in gaza. they're getting them from the iranians. and they are in many ways a forward point for iran in their struggle in their war against israel. >> mark regev is the israeli government spokesman joining us this morning. thank you for talking with us. we certainly appreciate it. i should reiterate people should follow wolf blitzer right now who is and anderson cooper who is are reporting for us from the region. they've got amazing tweets for us. still ahead on "starting point," time again to talk about the war on christmas. or is it separation of church and state? the fight to display a nativity scene in a park has taken a new turn. we'll explain what happened. our "starting point" team is headed in. short break. questions?
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welcome back. you're watching "starting point." our team this morning, will cain. the will cain memorial seat down there. >> good morning. what happened. >> honorary. good. only good. cnn contributor, columnist for theblaze.com. michael school nick is back. editor in chief of globalgrind.com. dana bash is with us. john berman is with us as well. he's going to update us on some of the big stories. >> demonstrators in texas trying to block the keystone xl pipeline. others suspended themselves from a 50 foot tree. police used pepper spray to haul off four of the demonstrators. vice president joe bide and
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and wife jill biden welcoming a group of wounded warriors to the naval observatory in washington for an early thanksgiving. the 26 guests are patients of the nearby walter reed national military medical center. they were selected because they can't make it home for thanksgiving with their families this year. a federal judge in california has ruled that the city of santa monica can really ban a nativity scene that's been on display in palisades park for the last 60 years. in recent years, atheists protested against the theme so in june the city council voted to ban all private displays. but backers of the nativity scene, they sued. and the judge says, until the lawsuit is decided the city can go ahead with its nativity scene ban. >> -- like is it so hard to throw up a little something for everybody? >> it's a very busy green there. >> come on! i think it's kumbayah. >> in the spirit of getting along, one guy knows how to get along.
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david beckham after spending six years in los angeles, superstar david beckham will be leaving the l.a. galaxy after the mls cup game on december 1st. beckham says he wants to experience one last challenge before the end of my playing career. he gave no hint. he played china and dubai and brazil. he's still going to look like david beckham no matter where he plays. >> wow. >> that's what you need to know. >> thank you for that reassurance. >> bring the world's largest soccer superstar to the united states do anything to make soccer more popular here? >> soccer's been on the rise over time. >> no. >> i think so. >> -- fashion here. >> also good for america. i support all of it. yes. to the beckhams, thumbs up. all right still ahead this morning on "starting point," secretary of state hillary clinton en route now to the middle east. will she be able to help bring about a cease-fire? we'll have live reports from the center of it all coming up next. there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%.
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morning, welcome, everybody. breaking news now. continuing conflict in the middle east. hearing reports that there are sirens going off right now in israel. wolf blitzer is in beer sheba for us. wolf i understand there's been an explosion in the last few minutes. can you tell me what you've heard and what you've seen? >> yes, soledad. we're here in beer sheba maybe about 30, 40 miles from gaza. and in the last few minutes, about 11 rockets, hamas rockets have come to this area. i think most of them were destroyed in the air by what the israelis call their iron dome anti-missile. just a few of them did land. including a couple, i'm told, in residential areas and there are casualties. i know that ambulances have been dispatched to the scene, and there's obviously sirens going off. so, as of the last few minutes,
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this conflict is clearly continuing and more hamas rockets coming in. i think as of now, one israeli soldier told me just a few minutes ago he sort of lost track but at least 30 rockets have come into the city, the fourth largest city in israel, in the past few hours. but 11 have been detected in the last few minutes. >> talk to me, wolf, about what the people around you are thinking, and feeling, it must be absolutely terrifying to have this happen? >> well, i went to a home about an hour or so ago of an israeli family, husband, wife, four kids, fifth kid was away, and they heard a rocket, they heard the siren go off, it was loud, and all of them ran down into what they call their safe room, a shelter, closet, really. but they were all inside, and when they walked out their home was basically obliterated. we were just there. we spoke to them, we spoke to the kids. they're traumatized, obviously,
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their neighbors are, as well. very quiet, residential neighborhood, and rockets land right on the roof and we walked through the living room, walked upstairs, and the home is pretty much destroyed. you know, it's just a very, very sad story. and you see these kind of stories, it was a member of the israeli parliament who was there from the foreign affairs and defense committee, and interviewed with him, said basically, as you know, it's awful, he doesn't want israel to go in on the ground into gaza but he thinks the israelis are going to have no choice. i know that there are efforts to get a cease-fire and hopefully that will be achieved. but at least with some of the population here in the south, not far from gaza, these people, these people are very, very angry, they're very upset, and they want this to end. >> wolf blitzer is reporting for us by phone in beer sheba this morning. thank you, wolf, appreciate that. let's get to arwa damon in gaza city this morning. what does it look like where you are?
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we're having some audio issues. you guys have her back? looks like arwa's having some audio issues. let's see if we can fix that. take a break. look at some of the other top stories and come back to arwa on the other side to get a report out of gaza city. >> federal investigators joining new york police in the search for a suspected serial killer whose murdered three brooklyn shop owners since the summer. cops want to question a man they're calling john doe duffel bag. he's spot the on video near two of the crime scenes. ballistic tests revealing the same .22 caliber handgun was used in all three killings. the ntsb will recreate the deadly collision between a train and a truck today. they'll stage a train and a truck at a railroad crossing in midland texas to see what could be seen when and where. investigators say the warning system worked as designed last
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week, giving a 20-second warning that a train was coming. four veterans were killed during the parade, which was meant to honor them, and their military service. >> a pakistani court has dismissed blast femm blasphemy against a christian teenager. the attorney says the high court in islamabad found that accusations against her were legally unsound. she was arrested in august over allegations she had burned pages of the koran for cooking fuel, a charge she denies. some monday night football action bears and 49ers in san francisco. 49ers backup quarterback coldid more than capable job in his first career job filling in for alex smith who was out for a concussion. he threw for 243 yards including two touchdown passes. the niners scored on each of their first four possessions on their way to an easy breezy 32-7 victory over chicago. >> it was in san francisco.
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it's windy out there. >> easy breezy. i have never heard a grown man say easy breezy. i've heard my kid's second grade teacher -- >> you probably want this -- >> it was a sports score. >> ahead this morning on "starting point," breaking news out of israel and gaza this morning as secretary of state hillary clinton is heading into the region, in hopes of brokering some kind of peace can be done. going to talk with south carolina congressman jim clyburn. it's a game changer. ♪ it means cleaner, cheaper american-made energy. but we've got to be careful how we get it. design the wells to be safe. thousands of jobs. use the most advanced technology to protect our water. billions in the economy. at chevron, if we can't do it right, we won't do it at all. we've got to think long term. we've got to think long term. ♪
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welcome back, everybody. we're following developing news this morning in the continuing conflict in the middle east. secretary of state hillary clinton is heading into the region today to try to foster some peace between gaza and israel, as israel announces plans to hold off on a ground invasion. want to go right to arwa damon. she is in gaza city for us. what's the latest where you are?
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>> good morning, soledad. just a short while ago we saw a rocket being launched from gaza city over in that direction towards israel, and moments later our bureau in jerusalem reported that sirens have gone off and that they heard a thud in the distance. israel channel 2 reporting that it impacted outside of jerusalem. and certainly throughout the morning we have been hearing and seeing strikes coming in from israel, as well. people here are incredibly tense. not many had actually hoped that cease-fire negotiations overnight would lead to any sort of break from this ongoing cycle of violence and certainly we continue to see the streets here deserted. everyone very fearful of what the next hours are potentially going to be bringing. at least in one occasion we are hearing from our sources that one person has been killed so far in gaza. overall since this all began, 110 people have been killed. a fair number of them women and children, as well. the vast majority of the people here that we've been talking to,
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soledad, do really want to see in the short-term, of course, a cease-fire. they told us that all they really want is the ability to live in dignity. >> which might be hard to get to with the way things are looking. arwa damon for us this morning. thank you for the update. let's get to south carolina congressman jim clyburn, the third ranking democrat in the house joining us this morning. nice to see you, sir. you heard arwa's report right there. she was describing from the gaza side, the rocket leaving, we heard wolf blitzer explain what happened when that rocket hit. he said there had been 11 rockets in the last few minutes. we were just talking to mark regev. he was telling us about the prospects for piece. he's a spokesperson for the israeli government. and here's what he said. let me play that first. >> -- i'm not going to question his word but it's a little late given all -- >> i'm sorry, sir, forgive me. that's not it. here's what he told me a little bit earlier. he said the bottom line for us,
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the israelis is that we want peace and quiet. it has to stop. no government on this planet would sit by idly and see its civilian population targeted the way the israeli civilian population is being targeted. it has to end. what is the solution here? there's a hold right now, but it doesn't look like it's necessarily going to hold for very long. >> well, thank you so much for having me, soledad. to begin with, i think it's a great sign that secretary clinton is on her way to the area. i'm very confident that she will be able to have some influence on this and carry out those emotions expressed by our president. nobody can fathom what it's like to have rockets raining down in your neighborhoods. least more on your capital city. so, to be targeted, civilians, and casualties among children, and innocent bystanders, it's
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just not the way to go. that has to come to an end. and i'm very hopeful that this pause is more than just pressing a button. something that would give us some time to negotiate some kind of successful resolution to this. >> sir, it's dana bash also here with soledad. i just want to ask you to turn to the issue of benghazi and the talking points that have now become a real political hot potato. the intelligence community admitted for the first time on the record last night that they, in fact, changed the talking points that susan rice used in the talk shows right after the attacks to take out al qaeda and replace it with extremists, that there's been a big conspiracy theory that perhaps it was the white house for a political move. are you, is there frustration there that the intelligence community has taken so long to admit that and kind of left susan rice hanging out on a limb? >> i am a bit frustrated by that. i think, as you recall, my
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senior senator and senator mccain sort of went after susan rice in what i thought was an unfair way. i responded rather quickly that i thought that they were aiming their arrows at the wrong person. the fact of the matter is, we all know that whatever requests were made for additional security, whatever went on before 9/11, it was all directed to the state department, not to the united nations. and this had nothing to do with susan rice. now we know, from the testimony of petraeus, as well as from what has been said on last evening that the talking points she was given, she absolutely read from the talking point. she didn't deviate from that. now if she had deviated in some way from the talking points, then they would have some issue with her -- >> so then -- i'm going to hop
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in because i'd love to hear the answer to dana's question is so then who are you frist traited with? are you frustrated with the republicans who seem to be going after rice? are you frustrated with the intelligence community that kind of left her hanging out there? are you frustrated with the 97 republicans who signed a letter urging the president not to nominate susan rice for the secretary of state position? all of the above? >> well, i guess all of the above. just have to say all of the above. the fact of the matter is, the expressions came from the same senator from south carolina, and senator mccain. that letter, signed by 97 people, was circulated by congressman jeff duncan from south carolina. so i have some personal feeling about this. i have said before that susan rice's father emmitt was born in florence, south carolina, the district my congressional district. i knew him very well. he was just an outstanding person. as susan rice is an outstanding person, and to have her sullied
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like this really frustrates me to no end. and i hate to see representatives from south carolina, where her roots run deep, out in the forefront of this. it is just unseemly to me. >> i want to read a little bit of this, this letter, what they write is she's ambassador rice viewed as having either willfully or incompetently misled the american public in the benghazi matter, her actions possibly give u.s. rivals and allies abroad reason to question u.s. commitment and credibility when needed thus we believe making her the face of u.s. foreign policy in hur second term would greatly undermine your desire to improve u.s. relations with the world an continue to build trust with the american people. the congressional black caucus incoming chair marsha fudge, who you know well, says that she actually thinks that this is more about the fact that susan rice is a woman, and that she's, she's black, i want to play a little bit of what she said. >> how do you say a person like susan rice is not qualified? you may not like her. you may not like the
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administration. but don't say she's not qualified. it is a shame that any time something goes wrong, they pick on women and minorities. i have a real issue with that. >> would you agree with what she's saying that there's a racial or a sexist component to a lot of these comments? or would you say that the letter seems to say they use the word incompetent, and they use the word undermining the desire to improve excuse me u.s. relations. >> you know, these are code words. we heard them during the campaign. during this recent campaign we heard senator sununu calling our president lazy, incompetent, these kinds of terms that those of us, especially those of us who were grown and raised in the south, we would hear these little words and phrases all of our lives and we'd get insulted by them. susan rice is as competent as anybody you will find. and just to paste that word on
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her causes problems with people like marcia fudge and certainly cause a big problem with me. i don't like those words. say she was wrong for doing it, but don't call her incompetent. that is something totally different. a lot of very competent people sometimes make errors. and to say that she erroneously did it, i don't have a problem with it. but to call her incompetent, a p.h.d., rhodes scholar being called incompetent by someone who can't hold a candle to her intellectually, by someone who said, and senator mccain called her incompetent, as well, but he told us that senator palin was a very competent to be vice president of the united states. >> congressman jim clyburn joining us this morning. nice to see you, sir. will cain i know that you are not a fan of the whistle so we'll chat about this a little more on the other side. >> i just have to ask you if
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maureen dowd a racist? is he speaking code? in the last two or three days those liberal columnists suggested that susan rice is not qualified to be sektz for that thish nothing to do with benghazi. the way she's conducted herself as a diplomat is not conducive to secretary of state. what i have issue with is you using -- not you, you soledad. people using the term they and suggesting they speak in code terms. who is they? who are we accusing of racism? >> i am happy to discuss "they" with you on the other side of the break so we can get there on time. you make a good point, though, i think. israel putting up plans for a ground offensive into gaza on hold. what happens if that hold ends and they do invade? we examine what that could look like. that's coming up next. what?! you've got to be kidding me. [ derek ] i've never seen a road like this. there's jagged rock all the way around. this is really gonna test the ats on all levels. [ derek ] this road is the most uneven surface, and it gets very narrow.
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welcome back, everybody. israel's potential ground invasion on gaza is on hold temporarily to give diplomacy a chance. tens of thousands of israeli troops are near the gaza border. a look at what a potential ground invasion could look like. >> reporter: if israel defense forces invade gaza, they would likely go under the cover of darknes darkness. >> they would have a tactical advantage on the battlefield, night vision, ability to operate in the dark. >> reporter: they would likely find hamas better armed than it was four years ago. >> we have better tank weapons, for sure. and might be more capable in inflicting damage on israeli forces. >> reporter: analyst jeff white says hamas' first line of defense will be a kilometer or two inside the border fence,
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trying to draw the idf into kill zones of ieds, snipers and preset border fire, but the israelis beat that tactic with better intel four years ago and now have new capabilities. >> they've developed cameras that they can actually roll or throw into a house that shows what's going on inside the house. >> reporter: geography works for and against hamas. gaza is densely populated. difficult for israel to fight in without causing some civilian casualties. but gaza is also long and narrow, which is terrible when you're trying to defend it. artillery station in israel can reach all points of gaza because it's so narrow. israeli forces can move in from multiple entry points because it's so long. >> they can compartmentalize the fighting inside gaza, isolate the one hamas unit from another.
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operate it selectively against pieces of the gaza strip. >> reporter: a former israeli general says israel is running out of targets outside of population centers. hamas leaders have holed up inside mosques or among civilians. a ground war could lead to a situation similar to 2009, when a u.n. report accused israel of committing war crimes in gaza. >> that is weighing on the minds of israeli policy makers now, as they consider whether to go into gaza on the ground. there's also the smaller risk of israeli casualties. if idf troops are kidnapped or killed, that could spark a domestic backlash against prime minister netanyahu, something he has to consider, just a couple of months away from an election. prime minister who is seen as standing up to hamas could be seen as protecting israelis along the border, but a prime minister who loses israeli
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troops, that could very much hurt politically. soledad? >> it can be very complicated. chris laurence, thank you. they've been committed to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them. helping millions of americans over the centuries. the strength of a global financial leader. the heart of a one-to-one relationship. together for your future. ♪ i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't work on runny noses. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have an antihistamine.
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apply online or at a bank america nr you. good morning. our "starting point," israeli troops halting its ground offensive, hoping for a solution. plus secretary of state hillary clinton is now headed into the region. can she help broker a cease fire? turmoil overseas affecting markets at home. oil prices up sharply yesterday. so were stocks. will it last as the violence escalates? >> they held on tight for two weeks but now a tea party favorite has faced the facts. update on congressman allen west just ahead. it's tuesday, november 20g9, and "starting point" begins right now.
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good morning. welcome, everybody. we'll get right to breaking news this morning, israel agreeing to hold off on a ground invasion as the united states sends in its top diplomat. here is the very latest. secretary of state hillary clinton is heading to israel at this hour, meeting with political leaders in israel, egypt and ramala. that begins tomorrow morning this morning, new rocket launches into jerusalem. israelis carrying ought more than 80 air strikes overnight. launching 95 rockets back across the border. 38 more palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours. cnn has the gaza conflict covered from all sides. arwa damon is on the ground in gaza city. and fred pleitgen is in ashkelon, israel. let's begin with frederick. >> reporter: can you so that
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city you see down here, that is already part of the gaza strip. what we're hearing, as we're reporting here, is that israeli warplanes are overhead and also drones that are circling in the area, basically constantly. there's also some firing going on. we believe that's outgoing artillery fire by the israeli military. we're not sure what that's about, if they're targeting anything or calibrating their weapons. very close to here, obviously, they have a big military buildup with a lot of forces there that might be calibrating their weapons, of course, for a possible ground invasion. that ground invasion at this point is currently on hold. what we've seen throughout the course of the day, there have been rocket attacks on various towns, 13 of those were intercepted by that iron dome missile defense system. however, there was one israeli officer, reserve officer severely wounded in a rocket attack, soledad. >> frederick pleitgen for us right on the border there. appreciate that update.
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israel's president, shimone perez, very concerned about stopping the iranians from sending long-range missiles to hamas. there are two very distinct story lines that basically are developing in that region. one is positive and one, he says, is very negative. listen. >> the positive is the role that the egyptian president is playing right now and we appreciate very much his efforts. the unpleasant one is the iranians. they are trying again to encourage the hamas to continue their shooting, bombing. they are trying to send them arms. they are out of their mind. >> peres calls iran the world's problem. want to introduce the team this morning. joining me at the desk, will cain, cnn contributor, columnist for the blaze.com. at global grind.com and dana
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bash cnn's senior correspondent. john berman and christine romans stick around. robin wright is a veterans affairs journalist, author of a terrific book called "rock the casba." we appreciate your time this morning. >> good morning. >> walk us through this ground operation we're told is on hold while there's an opportunity for negotiations and diplomacy to work. how long is on hold for? so far nobody has really given me, you know, a window of how much time they realistically have. what do you think it is? >> well, look, there's the potential for, at any moment -- whether it's one of the real extre extremist groups like islamic jihad to start firing missiles to undermine diplomacy. sequence of events will likely play out for two or three days. hillary clinton doesn't even arrive until much later today
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and then you have to deal with the core problem, the chicken and egg argument. israelis are saying we want a cease fire and then we'll talk about the political issues. whereas hamas is saying, we want a package that includes not just the process of a cease fire, but the substance, the political substance of what are we going to get out of this. they believe they've lived under an israeli cordon for years now and the missiles were, in part, to force israel to recognize that it had to deal with the hamas government in gaza. so you have this core problem of what are you even negotiating? >> so then you've been in the region and you're just back. what are people there saying to you? what have you seen there? what do you think is a way forward in terms of what the people want? >> that's the important question. over the last two years we've seen that the streets are really determining so much of what's happening in the region. and many of the governments that
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are involved in trying to negotiate, whether it's egypt or the arab league, tunisian foreign minister has been in gauzea. a lot of them have to respond to the mood in the streets. the longer this goes on, the angrier the streets will get. and delivering the economic benefits that most people engaged in the uprisings really want. there's a lot of pressure on the arab governments, including president m rochlt si in egypt, to get a solution as soon as possible. one of the most interesting dynamics have been the number of calls between president obama and president morsi, developing a functioning, working relationship. and now hillary clinton's most important stop on this trip will be in cairo for talk with his president morsi. >> this is will cain. dynamic between hamas and iran, we had an official on that said these missiles have three words on them "made in iran." we also have heard that hamas and iran have had a tense relationship since hamas supported the uprising in syria.
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what's that relationship and what's iran's role right now? >> absolutely. there are sectarian issues here. iran is predominantly shiite and hamas is predominantly sunni. the leader of hamas moved headquarters out of damascus and sided with the opposition. there is that real tension. in many ways, gaza reflects the kind of rivalry playing out in syria and elsewhere in the region. hamas relies on iran for military training and its most important weaponry, but there is this tension over syria. it's in syria's interest right now to see all the world's attention focused on gaza rather than on damascus to take some of the pressure off. these relationships in the region are shifting. part of what we're seeing, little gaza, it's important not just for what happens on israeli issues but the wider dynamics of the shifting sands across the
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middle east. >> let me ask you a question about what happens with hamas, depending how this plays out. there's one theory, dennis ross from the washington institute of near east policy said this on monday. he said one of the things that may have affected hamas' there's sympathy in egypt for what's going on. war with israel is not attractive to egypt, that there's a risk. and helene cooper said although president obama uttered immediate and public and private assurances that israel has a right to defend itself, blah, blah, blah, they're urge iing - move that many american officials could benefit hamas. this is why apparently the president would be having conversations about not escalating the crisis. where do you think it -- is hamas getting stronger over time
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because of these sorts of conflicts? >> well, remember, hamas really had been marginalized recently with president abbas, talking about resuming the peace process, even putting on the table the issue of the palestinian refugees right of return, a core issue to many palestinian palestinians and now he's saying it's negotiable or indicating it might be. also that he was going to the united nations to ask for an elevation elevation to nonmember statehood. these two entities, the west bank and gaza, have been divided since 2007, and rivals in trying to be the main leader of the people. now you find hamas is playing its cards to become the recognized -- not just in gaza, but in the west bank as well, this is likely to increase its
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support and getting far more attention from across the arab world. >> robin wright, joint fellow at the woodrow wilson international institute for scholars. "rock the casbah." we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. john berman has other stories in the news. asian visit wrapped up today in cambodia. held sideline meetings with the premiere and prime minister. now back on his way home back to washington. new information on the investigation into benghazi, who knew what, when and where? director of national intelligence says the intelligence community not the white house, state department or the justice department, made changes in talking points to government officials. the obama administration, especially ambassador to the united nations susan rice is taking a lot of heat over those talking points, used them for the basis of saying five days
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acid that the attack was a spontaneous reaction to an anti-islamic video. indianapolis detectives say a recent explosion at a subdivision is no accident. homicide investigation is now under way. two people were killed, seven injured in a november 10g9 blast that leveled several homes and damaged 30 others. investigators now searching for a white van spotted in front of one of the homes shortly before the explosion. it's been two weeks since election day. republican congressman allen west of florida is now conceding defeat to democratic challenger patrick murphy. tea party favorite released a statement this morning saying, quote, while many questions remain unanswered i am announcing that i will take no further action to contest the results of this election. murphy was ahead of westby by about 119 votes. there's one race in north carolina and another in louisiana decided in december. >> it's interesting.
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i was surprised he held in as long as as he did. legally, the time was up. >> it was up. they did a recount. when they recounted more votes the margin spread further. >> allen west, i'm not surprised. he essay fighter. >> you're right. i agree with you on that. trying to bounce back from supersto sup superstorm sandy, a family business swimming in debt. their climb back. we'll have their story straight ahead. why are so many of us about to pay record prices to drive over this -- >> thanksgiving. >> thank you. thanksgiving is the word i'm trying to say. this thanksgiving holiday. we'll examine that as well.
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moody's downgraded france's credit rating late last night. and finance ministers are meeting in brussels today to talk about greece. the dow jumped 207 points yesterday, more than 1.5%. it was the best day in months yesterday. existing home sales rose more than 2% in october. home prices are up more than 11% over the past year. according to the national association of realtors the median price of an existing home now $178,600. home prices have ridsen for eight consecutive months. more housing data in about 15 minutes. gas prices have been falling since the summer, right? this will still likely be the most you've ever paid for gas on thanksgiving, ever. today's national average from aaa, $3.41. last year, gas was almost a dime les less. >> but down from that ridiculous
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high. >> ridiculous. >> how much did it take to fill an suv? >> $1 million. $1 million. >> as we have been talking about all morning, there are reports now. it's been confirmed that israel is stopping its ground troops at this hour but only for a short time. the goal is to see if diplomacy can work. this as secretary of state hillary clinton is on her way to the region with the goal of helping broker peace there. arwa damon is in gaza city this morning. tell me a little bit about what you're seeing. >> reporter: well, from this vantage point, it seems increasingly difficult to see how those diplomatic efforts are, in fact, going to come into play throughout the morning hours and now into the afternoon. we have been seeing strikes coming in from the israelis. we also saw a rocket being fired from gaza city toward iz role as well. it came from that direction. we have seen what seems to be leaflets being dropped. israelis have been doing this on
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occasion. it was warning residents a few days ago to stay away from areas where militant commanders live, where they are what they call terrorist operations, where these rockets are being launched from. there have been a number of thuds in the zant distance in the other direction. we're not exactly sure what it is. most of the shops are closed, streets deserted. most people saying they don't believe there is going to be any cease fire in the short term. we do now know that the arab league delegation we have been expecting has crossed into the gaza strip. they are here on a diplomatic mission and also an effort to show solidarity. there has been a lot of diplomatic activity, intense diplomatic activity. trying to mediate negotiations on both sides. as of this time there is no cease fire that seems it's going to come into play any time soon.
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>> diplomatic mission on one hand and rockets firing on the other hand. arwith an, thank you. superstorm sandy, one family business is trying to bounce back. it's finding out it will be a very long struggle. their story next in a live report. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪
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welcome back, everybody. industrial gas and welding business in brooklyn took generations to build. superstorm sandy destroyed in minutes. challenge after and during the rain and flooding has some in debt. >> reporter: the streets were quiet outside liberty industrial
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gas and welding. >> less than ten minutes. >> this is nightfall, as the waters begin to rise. >> so at this point, i think it's gone. >> reporter: industrial park in red hook, brooklyn, sandwiched between two bodies of water. this is the guanis canal coming into the harbor, which is going to meet up with the river, and liberty is right here. we really had quite a surge because of the guanis and the river essentially meeting in this area. and flooding these streets. >> reporter: ashley murray's family business devastated. >> this is very hard for you personally? >> yeah. >> reporter: i can see it in your eyes. >> yeah. it's just -- we're devastated. it's just been a devastating process and there needs to be a little bit more help. >> reporter: do you feel forgotten? >> a little bit, yeah. yeah. so this was once a really nice showroom. >> reporter: 80% of her inventory, gone. >> essentially, we have moved everything into our stockroom so
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that we can work from the sidewalk. so now this is where we are functioning our store from. we have one functioning computer, one printer and we have people coming in from the roll down door. >> reporter: before sandy, you didn't have any debt. >> right. >> reporter: now? >> we're probably looking at $700,000 to $800,000 of debt. >> of debit. what kind of help have you gotten from the government? >> nothing from the government. >> reporter: ashley found government loans with 6% interest. her bank did better with a line of credit at just over 3%. >> we had shop saws and boxed items that -- there go the lights again. >> reporter: the challenge of doing business these days even the generators fail. this business right next door to ashley's is literally drying invoices loik this with a hair drier. what does this business mean to you? >> everything. it's my life. >> reporter: ashley's employees
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watch watched her grow up, working alongside her father. if this business went under? >> i think i would go under, too. >> reporter: now it's up to her to save their jobs. >> there's so much history here. the community, our customers. we really do have a great business here i think we can make it great again. >> she is the first female president of this company. and, boy, does she have a challenge, guys. $700,000 to $800,000 in the hole is where she believes this will leave her. no help from insurance yet, no help from government loans that she thinks is affordable yet. other competitions, she said, actually coming in to help her. she's trying. the point here is that as a small business it's very hard. they're not really getting the help that individuals are from fema. every day you lose that business you get further and further in the hole. >> is she an outlier? >> no. it's very typical, especially in
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redhook, brooklyn. that whole area. when you're a small business if you don't have flood insurance or much flood insurance, then you're really on your own and you've got to get that instance and those loans. >> long beach, long island, it's not atippical. it's cruel how one stands and one next to it is destroyed. >> i with his at rockaway. no power for weeks. no business can open. >> absolutely. breaking news to get to. we're hearing that egypt's president, mohamed morsi is saying that israel's aggression, as he calls it, against gaza will end in a few hours. our reza sayeh is there. we'll get an update from him this breaking story. we're right on the other side of this break with his report.
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welcome back. breaking news to get to. we were hearing and we are waiting for a report from reza sayeh, what egypt's president mohamed morsi is now saying. he is saying that id real's aggression, as he calls it, against gaza will end some time today, maybe in a few hours and that egyptian-mediated efforts will produce positive results. reza sayeh is reporting for us on this issue. he joins us live. so, back up and give us some detail. is mohamed morsi really the person who would be able to effectively say that this aggression now ends? >> reporter: well, it's tough to
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say. what we do know is that it's intelligence officials in egypt that are apparently leading the negotiations and the man who is doing it is mohammed mashat. in 2011 he helped to negotiate the release of israeli soldier, which suggests this egyptian spy chief has pretty strong contacts in tel aviv and pretty strong contacts in hamas. mohamed morsi, the president, coming out and saying he expects israeli aggression to stop on tuesday. that's pretty consistent to similar statements we've heard over the past 24 hours. last night, an egyptian intelligence official and a hamas official said they're hopeful that a cease fire could be achieved by today. and it looks like, if you believe what the egyptian officials are saying, it looks like they're working on conditions. hamas officials are telling us israel has agreed to the conditions but they haven't
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agreed to the timing. hamas' conditions is for israel to stop the air operations and open up the ground crossings immediately and simultaneously. according to egyptian officials, israel is willing to open up the ground crossings and blockade gradually. that's where things stand right now, soledad. >> he had mentioned, it looks like some time today -- i've also heard in a few hours. what's the timeline you're hearing, reza? >> reporter: the time line is some time today. it's the same timeline we heard late last night in speaking to egyptian officials and hamas officials. so, again, optimism from the egyptian side, hamas side. israel south carolina a little bit more cautious, a bit more quiet about the possibility of progress, but we did read a tweet from the spokesperson from the israeli prime minister's office and he said that they're hopeful that something could be worked out. again, an indication that
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something could happen some time today. many say they'll believe it when they see it. >> reza sayeh, appreciate it. as reza just said in israel a little more cautious. want to get to frederik pleitgen. it sounds like it's tentative so far, frederik. >> reporter: yes. so far saying these negotiations are going on and, yes, they've halted the ground offensive but they're also saying it's not clear whether or not these things will lead to any success. it is clear that the negotiations are going on. at the border with gaza, overlooking gaza, you can see back there big plumes of smoke coming up over gaza. we had a big barrage of what we believe is israeli artillery firing on that area back there. we're not sure if they were firing at any targets or they may have just been calibrating
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their weapons. certainly there is a lot of israeli armor that's here. and either they're testing their weapons and firing on open areas in gaza or, in fact, there is some sort of target there. we actually counted about 20 to 25 artillery shells, we believe, that hit over there. right now there is a lot of action going on here over gaza. there was an air strike just now that might explain why the israelis are being so cautious. there is really no let up here in the violence. rockets going out of gaza. in fact, there are still air strikes going into gaza. one thing that the israelis still keep saying is that even though right now the preparations for ground offensive have been halted that doesn't mean that it isn't going to happen if, in fact, negotiations fail and if israel doesn't achieve what this wants to achieve, which is rocket launches out of gaza stop completely. soledad? >> more on the u.s. response to this conflict, let's get right to our foreign affairs
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correspondent jill dougherty. we know that president obama se hillary clinton is heading into the region. it must make things, i suppose, depending how accurate this reporting is, make it easier for her certainly. >> reporter: well, easier in the sense that an immediate problem might be relieved. an immediate problem meaning let's say the rocket attacks stop. israel does not invade and things kind of calm down. that would be optimal. but that's just the beginning. i mean, this is very, very complex, as you said. and so as the secretary arrives, and local time in israel she arrives about 10:00 pm. she'll be meeting with prime minister netanyahu. she gets up the next morning and goes to ramallah, to meet with mahmoud abbas, head of the palestinian authority. he has been very much sidelined, as we've been pointing out. he doesn't have a lot of direct
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influence on what is going on, certainly, on hamas, which runs gaza. so that's a difficult situation. and then finally she will be going also on wednesday to cairo. and that's where the key is. they are the brokers here, the people who are talking to hamas and trying to bring aut some type of cease fire. it appears that that now is going to happen. but again a lot of caveats about that. >> jill dougherty for us this morning. thank you, jill. interesting. it sets up for hillary clinton as she arrives this very -- it sounds like fragile, tentative, any sin -- synonym you want to use there. >> as soon as we saw the news overnight it seemed something was going on in the region. >> that's exactly right. it's not at a presidential level but that's how these things kind of work, kind of precooked.
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you have to wait for it to fully bake. >> king abdullah of saudi arabia has laid out two peace plans that have been passed by art absent league. the president and secretary clinton should certainly speak to the saudi arabians. they will play a key figure in the ongoing negotiations. >> as jill was talking about the short term and the long term. the short term cease fire for the immediate moment is valuable, but really this -- how long has this region been in this kind of -- >> century. >> what is the long-term solution? that is a huge, huge problem. >> peace. >> no, no, that's the outcome of a long-term solution. let's turn to business news if we can for a moment. housing market. >> strong. another new number showing strength in the housing market, you guys. the highest level now since 2008, this number just crossing. 890,000 housing starts in october. this follows good news on
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existing home prices yesterday. that's the bulk of the housing market, right? they're up more than 11% over the past year. that's according to the national association of realtors. median price in existing home, $178,600. bullish in the housing market, housing starts are construction jobs, trucking jobs, people who are laying bricks, who are pouring concrete and then comes all of the kinds of purchases that go into furnishing a house, carpeting, putting in the wood floors, windows, everything. when you're seeing a recovery in housing starts and residential home building, that's something that really moves money tlout the economy. i'm not seeing futures move on th this, quite frankly. even despite sandny the northeast, these are strong nuchls. downgrade of france by moody's is getting attention today and in the dow, holding things back this morning --
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parade float and train collision, ntsb will hold an investigation today. bell, lights and gate worked as designed last week, giving a 20-second warning that a train was coming. four veterans were killed during the parade, which was meant to honor them and their military service. bail hearing is set for today for new york's so-called cannibal cop. 28-year-old nypd officer entered a not guilty plea during a hearing yesterday, accused of allegedly plotting to kidnap, kill and eat at least 100 women. you heard that right. he used an nypd criminal database to get information about potential victims and has been denied bail twice. his lawyer says she will try again today. government lawyer is asking a military appeals court to deny a request by accused ft. hood shooter major nid lachlt hasan to keep his beard. he claims it's his religious
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right as a practicing muslim to wear facial hair in defiance of army regulations. at least half a dozen mudslides have blocked highways and rail lines in parts of washington and oregon, complicating travel plans for people hed hitting the road for thanksgiving. travel through vancouver is canc canceled through tomorrow. kind of a bummer in the northwest. a voting bloc they didn't have. can republican party win over latino voters next time around? we'll talk with jeb bush jr., who has been doing a lot of hispanic outreach about what the plan is ahead. that's one smart board. what else does it do, reverse gravity? [ laughs ] [ laughs ] [ whooshing ]
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welcome back, everybody. it's been two weeks since the election. and republicans have been doing a little soul searching to try to figure out why their party lost the presidency. our exit polls lay out some reasons. this one shows mitt romney winning the white vote while african-americans, latinos, asians all broke for president obama in a big way. right after the election, paul ryan spoke about losing the race because of urban voters. take a look. >> the polling we had, the numbers we were looking at looked like we stood a pretty good chance of winning. so when the numbers came in, going the other direction, when we see the kind of turnout that was occurring in urban areas, which were fairly unprecedented, it did come as a shock. those are the kind of losses, that catch you by surprise. >> co-founder of sun pac, conservative outreach program
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for the hispanic community jeb bush jr. >> thanks for having me. >> my pleasure. certainly the president won paul ryan's own district, which is white and suburban, won eric cantore's own district, white and suburban. what do you think is your reason ultimately for why the gop lost? >> i think as it relates to our our ban, latino and hispanic districts, we didn't get the message out. they had a better message tas relates to immigration and the economy. it was a tough night. we're looking forward to take a word from the presidential campaign, we're looking forward to the mid terms in 2016 and be working hard to get the message out. >> is it not getting the message out or is it that there's no message that works? i feel like i had a lot of
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conversations about latinos and the gop. i did a documentary about the gop and latinos in the state of nevada. i think there was a sense it's the wrong message for latinos and you saw that reflected on election day, i thought. >> correct. and i would agree with that, the sense of our messaging. self deportation, however you want to spin it, is not attractive to hispanics, latinos or anyone for that matter. focus on the immigration issue as it building our economy, taking advantage of the american secret sauce and using this as a -- first of all, to get this out of the way politically, but to really, you know, help our country out. we need to have comprehensive immigration. we're hoping that we can get this issue off the table and look forward. >> you know, some people have said it's not just about immigration. although i know when we talk about the latino voter, me and everybody else, we all go to talk about immigration first. everybody has said it's not just about immigration. clearly i thought tone was a big problem for the gop.
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mayor for san an totonio told m the other day it's also about the content of policy. it's more than just sort of a message and tone. here is what he told me the other day. oh, well, you know what? i'll have to read it to you. apparently we don't have that sound bite. on health care -- forgive me for that -- republicans have very much against obamacare for the latino community. that's a huge deal when you talk about diabetes, obesity, hypertension. having health care would be a great thing. it's not just tone but the substance of the policies that republicans are embracing. do you see a change not only on the tone front and the messaging front as you call it, but also substance? >> we do. you know, during the election you saw most of the polling had the economy as the number one issue for latinos in this country. but a close second was immigration and education. and i think going to mayor
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castro's point, we need to have kind of a diverse set of platform issues to focus on. >> can you all fit under the big tent on that? do you know what i'm saying? >> yes. >> if you work with the tea party, they say the reason we lost is the candidate was pretty weak. if you look at evangelicals, they say we really felt they weren't conservative enough. if you look the others, they say we lost latinos. get a better messaging for latinos. could all those people fit under the tent of one party and not undermine each other as you try to move forward? >> absolutely. but going back to your question of do we see a change, shift in the party? absolutely. we have great leaders like marco rubio, ted cruz, sandra martinez. we have more hispanic governors than democrats, more hispanic senators than democrat bus we have to work on our ground game, our messaging. in 2004, 2008 george w. showed that you can be successful with hispanics and be a republican.
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he showed up in hispanic communities, spoke a little spanish, which is trying i think that candidness came across well. so mccain and governor romney didn't do a good job, but i think in 2016 hopefully we'll have a candidate that certainly focuses on that. >> let's talk about marco rubion for a moment. rising star. speaking spanish fluently. he was asked sort of a crazy question and sounded like a gotcha question. how old is the earth. and what he answered is basically i'm not a scientist. there are multiple theories about how old the earth is. when i read that, i thought what he was sort of saying is that's an umbrella question. i want to give an answer for the scientist but also want to make people who believe in creation happy and i want to make anybody who wants to educate their children about what they want, make them happy. it was one of those nonanswers.
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it could be indicative of a problem. i'm trying to answer to too many -- what do you want to call it? >> masters. >> masters, yes. >> it was a strange question and head-scratching answer. going back to the republican party and how we shape the tone, we have to be kind of a pro-science and pro-technology party. marco rubio is just that. we can't forget about our traditional values, faith, family sbch family. and senator rubio represents that. on the earth question, i'll have to read more closely in terms of getting a better understanding. kind of a strange response, i guess. >> yeah. it was a really weird response. i guess maybe moving forward that's an indication of you're going to have to come up with an answer. that's not a multi-part answer. or i think that will be a real challenge. >> the republican party -- the party has been pushed in this area of anti-science and anti-technology and i don't
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think that's true. you know, we're a young and dynamic party and hopefully after this election it's a very good example that we need to open up the tent and bring in young and exciting people into the party. >> is your dad going to run for president? >> i don't know. no comment. i certainly hope so -- >> which is it, i don't know or no comment? >> i think it's the i hope so. >> wait a minute. you said i don't know. no comment and i hope so. which are kind of contra addictry. >> give me the full loaf of bread there. >> jeb bush jr. thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. we'll update you on what's happening in the middle east and gaza as well. oh, after you.
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mohamed morsi is saying that israel's aggression, as he calls it against gaza, is going to end tod today. egyptian mediated efforts will produce, quote, positive results. just several hours from now is what he's predicting. earlier this morning, israel announced it will hold off on a ground invasion. u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is in the air right now, expe expected to arrive later in the region today to help broker peace as well. dozens of rockets have been fired into israel. most have been destroyed, though, by that iron dome, which protects it against rockets. the egyptian president, morsi, saying the aggression between israel and gaza is expected to end in a few hours. got to take a short break. "end point" is up next. is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup.
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i love that graphic so much. dana bash, "end point." you get to start. >> with this fighting in miltd east does bring home the problem the west that the u.s. has that they have to deal with the palestinian authority but the juice, so to speak, is with the hamas. how do they square that circle, they meaning the u.s. and secretary clinton going there right now. >> how do you leverage eep jipt to do thattestishmently and effectively. will cain? >> this conflict, and johnb berman was talking about this during the break. first piece of evidence in what we have of a massive geopolitical region of the world. and we hope to know what egypt's role looks like. we didn't know a week ago. >> it's been interesting to hear the israeli leadership praisy morsi. >> they've given him a huge amount of leeway, saying israel

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